Our Company
Tradition. Built on a
solid foundation.
Working With The
Westley Group…
You can be confident that your projects will be on time and on budget without adding staffing costs to your bottom line. Through our network of industry-leading vendor experts, we offer a variety of services from interior design to punch list completion through brand sign-off. Our turnkey service helps owners efficiently manage their projects.
Leaders
Kelly Shoaf
Principal PartnerKelly Shoaf
Kelly is a seasoned hospitality professional. With over 13 years of experience, she has an extensive background in asset management working for a publicly traded, focus serviced hotel REIT where she was on the leadership team of the architecture and design department. She has managed annual budgets of over 100MM dollars of capital development projects at 180 plus hotel assets across the United States. Kelly managed a team of engineers addressing the needs for everything from high-rise historic buildings and Gen 1 properties ensuring major mechanical systems were maintained and replaced, regular capital improvement projects were executed and most imperatively, that major hotel systems remained operational on a daily basis.
In 2018 Kelly took her skills from construction to city commission and was elected City Commissioner in the City of West Palm Beach. She currently sits as one of five City Commissioners representing the over 110,000 residents as District 1 Commissioner in the city’s Northend.
Chris Manley
PartnerChris Manley
Chris Manley received his master’s degree in professional accounting and bachelor's degree from the University of Texas in Austin. Upon graduating, Chris received the highest score in the State of Colorado's May 1993 CPA exam, and his score ranked within the top 100 in the nation. Chris grew up in Denver, Colorado.
In 2020, Chris was a founder of Five Senses Hospitality Management, a Denver based hotel owner and operator. Five Senses currently manages 11 properties with over 250 team members. The properties are with the Marriott, Hilton, Choice and IHG brand families as well as three independent properties.
From 2015 to 2020, Chris was Stonebridge Companies’ Chief Operating Officer. Stonebridge is one of the premier hospitality development and management companies in the United States. Stonebridge’s portfolio included 63 hotels with over 11,000 guest rooms and 3,200 + employees. This diverse listing of properties includes select-service, extended-stay, mid-scale and full-service hotels in markets throughout the U.S.
Chris is a past board member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry. He serves on Marriott’s franchise advisory committee for the Aloft brand, and he has served on similar committees for Marriott’s Renaissance and Hilton’s Homewood Suites brands.
Prior to joining Stonebridge Companies, Chris spent 15 years at The Pauls Corporation, a real estate investor developer across multiple asset classes in the US and Canada. Chris was president of the real estate services company and Chief Financial Officer/Chief Accounting Officer for the entire organization.
Chris’ was originally a Vice President with ProLogis (NYSE: PLD), an industrial REIT, where he was responsible for the acquisition, development, and management of a 10.0msf industrial portfolio in Tennessee and a 5.0msf industrial portfolio in Florida.
Chris resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife and two children.
Jeff Blackman
PartnerJeff Blackman
Since 1995, Jeff Blackman has amassed deep expertise in every facet of the hotel business, having been involved in ground up development for over 150 hotels, financing for multiple portfolios, single asset loans, CMBS executions, asset management formation and oversight for REITs, property management, risk management, property tax appeals, appraisals and valuation analysis, and market feasibility.
Jeff began his career in his hometown of Wichita, KS with Jack DeBoer, creator of the extended stay hotel segment, having founded Candlewood Suites, Residence Inn (created and sold to Marriott) and Summerfield Suites. Jeff oversaw the Development Planning and Market Feasibility department, for Candlewood Suites, shepherding its rapid growth to over 100 hotels nationwide.
In 2003, Jeff was named VP of Acquisitions for Ashford, where they acquired $2 billion of hotel assets between 2003-2005.
In 2005, Jeff joined Marriott International as Vice President of Development for the Central Region. He quickly grew the franchise business of its select service and extended stay brands, executing over 100 development deals in two years.
Jeff joined Western International in 2007, one of the largest owner/operator/developers in the U.S. As Executive Vice President of Operations, Jeff re-organized the company through the downturn of 2009, and developed a company culture now recognized as an award-winning management company for Hilton and Marriott hotels. In addition to overseeing the management company, Jeff actively participated in the development of over 25 hotels during his tenure with Western International.
Jeff launched Bedford Lodging in 2013 to leverage his long-standing industry relationships and expertise in all facets of the lodging business: Development, Management, Asset Management, Acquisition, Due Diligence assistance, and Advisory services.
Jeff was previously on the Towneplace Suites franchise advisory committee and currently serves as President of the Fairfield Inn & Suites franchise advisory committee. Jeff is also an active member of the National Advisory Council of Wichita State University.
Our Story
The Westley Group is built on a family legacy of hard work.
Richard “Bud” Westley Shoaf, Sr. opened his first business after dropping out of the 8th grade to support his family when his father unexpectedly passed away. With a mother and five siblings to care for, he converted an old Chevy into a coal delivery car by cutting the trunk off and expanding the storage into the back seat. He made deliveries throughout his hometown, Greensburg, Pennsylvania eventually saving enough to buy his own truck for R.W. Shoaf Coal and General Hauling. He was called to serve his country during WWII draft and served as an infantry man. After the war, Bud married his wife, Maggie whom he met while stationed in Cobbtown, Georgia and the two raised their family of five near Bud’s family in Sarver, Pennsylvania. Bud worked in the Pittsburgh steel mills for decades before retiring where he kept himself busy as chief architect, brick layer and “white hat” foreman for the construction of each of his children’s first homes.
The Shoaf tradition carried on as Jeff taught that entrepreneurial spirit and hard work ethic to his own daughter. Kelly Shoaf was raised on saw dust and grease pit oil as the number one assistant and tool fetcher perched next to a garage work bench or on a job site. From an early age, Kelly learned how to make a plan, build from that plan and work a project until complete. She took this blue collar background and went off to the University of Pittsburgh to earn a Bachelor degree in Business and Marketing and then on to the University of Florida to earn her MBA. She founded The Westley Group on the foundations of rolling up your sleeves, taking the time to do things right and working until the day is done.
Our Projects
Strategic, intentional growth allows us to allocate maximized resources to our hotels. We welcome you to take a tour of our portfolio. Our pipeline has us staffing for growth in several other carefully-planned regions.
Experience With Brands
